The EU mission – dubbed Aspides, from the Greek for “shield” – has escorted 68 ships and repelled 11 attacks since it was established less than two months ago. It only defends civilian vessels and does not take part in any military strikes. The southern part of the Red Sea is deemed a high-risk zone. “Just a single transit of one of our ships between the two larger distances to the area might take about 10 days, and also to cross the high-risk area takes almost two days,” Greek Navy Rear Admiral Vasilios Gryparis, the commander of the mission, told reporters in Brussels on Monday. He said the high-risk zone “has seen multiple attacks in the past months” ranging from threats and intimidation to “complex attacks” using “shore, air and sea-based assets, drones and ballistic missiles.” No one has been hurt. Nineteen of the 27 EU nations are involved in the mission but only four frigates are patrolling. Iran-backed Houthi rebels, which control much of Yemen’s north and west, launched a campaign of drone and missile attacks on shipping in the Red Sea in November. They have also fired missiles toward Israel, although those have largely fallen short or been intercepted. The attacks have hit maritime trade to Egypt and Europe, with only around half the usual number of ships moving through the area. It’s added up to two weeks of transit time for vessels that want to avoid the Suez Canal, hiking transport costs and shipping insurance. The rebels have described their campaign as an effort to pressure Israel to end its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The ships targeted by the Houthis, however, largely have had little or no connection to Israel, the US or other nations involved in the war. Their campaign has continued despite more than two months of US-led retaliatory airstrikes. The EU mission also remains “very vigilant” for any spike in attacks following last week’s airstrike, widely blamed on Israel, which destroyed Iran’s consulate in Syria, killing 12 people, including 2 elite Iranian generals, Gryparis said. Top Iranian officials have promised to retaliate. “We call on Iran to show restraint and to use its influence to avoid escalation, and in particular, with relation to the Houthis,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said, but he added: “I don’t think Iran has full control (of) the Houthi decision-making. They have become quite autonomous.” 

Von der Leyen is the lead candidate of the European People's Party (EPP) in the upcoming European elections and is seeking re-election as president of the European Commission. "That is thanks, above all, to the people of Greece, it is thanks to all of you here in this room, and thanks to New Democracy and to you Kyriakos," she added, addressing Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. "Thanks to you all, Greece's story in the last years is a story of amazing recovery and I want to pay tribute to you for that. This is impressive," von der Leyen said to the gathering, pointing out that, not so long ago, Greece had been staring into the abyss but had now become, under the leadership of the Mitsotakis government, an economic frontrunner. "Under your leadership, Greece's economy has outperformed the Eurozone average. Under your leadership, Greece is driving growth and innovation, it is attracting investment from across the world, and it is home to some of your fastest-growing startups. And you have achieved all of this while supporting people where it matters, their wages, their pensions, their daily life...There is no doubt: you have done Greece proud, you have done Europe proud," she said. Von der Leyen then noted that the key to Greece's transformation has been leadership, courage and trust to deliver on the things that really matter, adding: "In this more volatile and unstable world, this is exactly what Europe will need in the years ahead. And we know that we can do it. Since 2019 we have shown what we can do when Europe is united and ambitious. Together, we overcame a global pandemic, ensuring that citizens in every member-state got their vaccines at the same time. Together, we pulled our economies back from the brink with NextGeneration EU." At this point, she thanked the Greek prime minister "for his invaluable leadership in making that happen." Von der Leyen then spoke of the fight against climate change, noting that Europe was leading this together, through the European Green Deal, while at the same time showing true solidarity to those most affected. She noted that more than 10 countries had provided support to Greece in battling the devastating wildfires in the Alexandroupolis region, just as Greece had helped others in their time of need. "This is European solidarity at its best," she emphasised. Regarding migration, also, she pointed out, it was made clear that Europe will decide who enters the Union and on what terms, not the rings of traffickers, while she underlined the threat of populism, saying it was one of the biggest challenges now facing Europe. She referred to the efforts of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to "wipe out" Ukraine and also referred to his allies within the EU, which she said were openly defying European values. These parties may go by different names, von der Leyen commented, but their goal was the same: to destroy Europe. "We will not allow them to do this, we must stand up to them and strike back," she emphasised, noting that the Russian missile attack on Odesa during the Greek prime minister's visit there showed how ruthless Vladimir Putin could be. The European Commission president concluded by saying that the EU must spend more, in a better and more European way, on defence, insisting that cooperation in defence must be "our future priority". She also noted that the EU must strengthen the competitiveness of its economy and social state, stressing that "the battle for democracy never ends."  

“America’s founding fathers studied ancient Greek thinkers and leaders. Our revolution in 1776 was inspired – literally, not freely – by their ideas,” Biden told a crowd of Greek Americans and friends of Greece from the political, business, and arts communities.  “Forty-five years after that Greek patriots fought for their own independence, galvanized by America’s quest for liberty. That is why the anniversary of Greece’s independence is a special day in America as well. Our nations are connected. We have shared values, shared aspirations, and shared belief that anything is possible,” he said. “The bonds between us are rooted in our history, but the are very much alive today.”  Archbishop Elpidophoros of America also delivered remarks, expressing gratitude to the US president for his dedication to Greece and Cyprus, and for advocating “for a just and peaceful solution” to the division of the Mediterranean island following Turkey’s invasion. He also thanked Biden for his “unwavering support of the purely spiritual mission of our Ecumenical Patriarchate,” while commending the US leader for being “the leading advocate for the cause of our Ukrainian brothers and sisters, who are still fighting two years later for their very lives against the unjust and inhuman invasion of their land.”

Despite the fact that with the "good morning" of the first set, Sakkari found herself behind with a break from the Russian (she competes under a neutral flag), she immediately reacted and "broke" Kundermetova's serve twice, leading to with 4-2. Afterwards, the Greek champion held her serve and with a new break, took the set 6-2, after 39 minutes of play. The "scenario" of the first set was repeated in the second, with the 26-year-old Russian "breaking" the serve of the 28-year-old Greek, who is ranked No. 7 in the world. However, Sakkari reacted again and after breaking in the fourth game, tying the score 2-2, she held her serve until the tenth game, where with a new break, she reached the qualification victory with 6-4 and after 55 minutes of match. Sakkari's opponent in the semi-final will be the American, Danielle Collins (No. 22 in the world), who beat Belgium's Elise Mertens (No. 30) 6-3, 6-4.

“We need to double down on efforts to get aid to Gaza,” Nikos Christodoulides said, after a meeting with European Parliament President Roberta Metsola. The Israeli strike hit a convoy carrying a World Central Kitchen team which had just unloaded more than 100 tons of food aid brought to Gaza via the maritime route from Cyprus. Citizens from Australia, Poland and Britain were among the victims. Christodoulides said that the US-based World Central Kitchen charity is a “crucial partner” in the initiative, dubbed Amalthea, to get aid to the enclave by sea. The seven aid workers were “traveling in a deconflicted zone in two armored cars branded with the WCK logo and a soft skin vehicle,” World Central Kitchen said in an announcement confirming their deaths. The charity said it was pausing operations in the region with immediate effect. WCK has been active in Gaza since October, bringing food by land routes and also participating in air drops. Earlier this month, it launched an inaugural sea corridor transporting aid to the enclave from Cyprus. “We must use all our resources to get answers and to bring in more relief,” Metsola added, describing the situation on the ground as “desperate.” The EU’s approach, she said, “is to get more help into Gaza, save innocent lives and advance the need for a two-state solution that gives Palestinians a true perspective while giving Israel security.” A second convoy of ships taking just over 300 tonnes of aid left Cyprus last weekend and got to Gaza around midday on Monday, Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said. Kombos said Cypriot authorities had been in touch with the WCK. The strike occurred 12 km from the landing area for aid – a makeshift jetty created by the charity. The aid workers had just ended a shift halfway through the offloading process, which was supposed to resume early Tuesday, the Cypriot minister said. “This is something that has now been frozen and since WCK has made the announcement – they will be leaving the area in order to come back, regroup and see and assess what the next steps are,” Kombos said. His ministry also issued an announcement emphasizing the need for “absolute respect” for international humanitarian efforts and urging a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the volunteers’ deaths.  

Sakkari declared that she was completely satisfied with her performance in this particular match, but also with her general progress in recent weeks: "I am pleased with my reaction to the difficult parts of the match. All in all, I know that I am a character that has ups and downs", emphasized the leading Greek tennis player and added: "I want to eliminate them and not have too many falls in the season. That is my biggest goal and we will see how the ranking will be at the end of the year. I haven't played well in a big Grand Slam level tournament in a while. After a good Grand Slam maybe I can say that I have kept this stability of the last few weeks."

The revolutionary idea, a first in Olympic history, will allow ordinary people to run in one of two races to be held on Saturday 10 August on the same course as the Olympic Marathon. The races will start in front of Paris City Hall.   The first race covers the legendary Marathon distance of 42,195 km while the other is 10 km and will represent 110 countries. Each will have 20,024 participants and take place a few hours after the men's Olympic Marathon. Both the Marathon and the 10km race - as stated by the Olympic organizing committee - will be open to people with a disability, regardless of the level of assistance required, provided they are at least 16 years of age by 31 December 2024 for the 10 km and at least 20 years old by the same date for the 42,195 km, as defined by the regulations of the French Athletics Federation in force from 2022. Marathon Pour Tous will be a gender equality race, with equal numbers of women and men (50%-50%). The youngest 10km runner will be 16 and the oldest 95. The youngest Marathon runner will be 20 and the oldest 85. 1/4 of the Marathon runners will be taking part in their first 42,195km race.  

Previous director Hartwig Fischer resigned in August after the museum disclosed that more than 1,800 items were missing in an apparent case of insider theft. Many of the items had been offered for sale online. Mark Jones, former head of the Victoria and Albert Museum, has served as interim director since then. Cullinan will replace him in the summer. Cullinan has been director of the National Portrait Gallery since 2015, overseeing a major refurbishment of the building beside London’s Trafalgar Square. He has previously worked at Tate Modern in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. His appointment was approved by the British Museum’s trustees and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Cullinan said it was an honor to become director of “one of the greatest museums in the world.” He said he looked forward to leading the institution through “the most significant transformations, both architectural and intellectual, happening in any museum globally, to continue making the British Museum the most engaged and collaborative it can be.” The museum fired a longstanding curator, Paul Higgs, over the missing items, and is suing him in the High Court. Lawyers for the museum say Higgs “abused his position of trust” to steal ancient gems, gold jewelry and other pieces from storerooms over the course of a decade. Higgs, who worked in the museum’s Greece and Rome department for more than 2 decades, denies the allegations and intends to dispute the museum’s legal claim. The British Museum went to court Tuesday against a former curator alleged to have stolen hundreds of artifacts from its collections and offered them for sale online . The museum is suing Peter Higgs, who was fired in July 2023 after more than 1,800 items were discovered to be missing. Lawyers for the museum say Higgs “abused his position of trust” to steal ancient gems, gold jewelry and other pieces from storerooms over the course of a decade. High Court judge Heather Williams ordered Higgs to list or return any items in his possession within four weeks. She also ordered the disclosure of his eBay and PayPal records. The museum says it has recovered 356 of the missing items so far, and hopes to get more back. “The items that have been stolen from the museum are of cultural and historical significance,” museum lawyer Daniel Burgess said in written legal arguments. Burgess said the defendant tried to “cover his tracks” by using fake names, creating false documents, manipulating the museum’s records and selling artifacts at less than their value. He did not attend Tuesday’s hearing due to poor health, lawyers said. A separate police investigation into the case is ongoing, and Higgs has not been charged with a crime. Museum director Hartwig Fischer resigned after the loss of the items was revealed in August, apologizing for failing to take seriously enough a warning from an art historian that artifacts from its collection were being sold on eBay. Chairman of trustees George Osborne has acknowledged that the reputation of the 265-year-old institution has been damaged by the episode. The 18th-century museum in central London’s Bloomsbury district is one of Britain’s biggest tourist attractions, visited by 6 million people a year. They come to see a collection that ranges from Egyptian mummies and ancient Greek statues to Viking hoards, scrolls bearing 12th-century Chinese poetry and masks created by the Indigenous peoples of Canada. The 18th-century museum in central London’s Bloomsbury district is one of Britain’s biggest tourist attractions, visited by 6 million people a year. They come to see a collection that ranges from Egyptian mummies and ancient Greek statues to Viking hoards, scrolls bearing 12th-century Chinese poetry and masks created by the Indigenous peoples of Canada. The museum faces growing pressure over items taken from other countries during the period of the British Empire – especially the Parthenon Marbles, 2,500-year-old sculptures that were taken from Athens in the early 19th century by British diplomat Lord Elgin. Greece has campaigned for decades for the marbles to be returned. The British Museum is banned by law from giving the sculptures back to Greece, but its leaders have held talks with Greek officials about a compromise, such as a long-term loan. Those efforts suffered a setback in November, when a diplomatic spat erupted over the marbles, and Prime Minister Sunak abruptly canceled a planned meeting with his Greek counterpart, Kyriakos Mitsotakis. British Museum Chairman George Osborne said that with Cullinan’s appointment, the institution was entering “a new chapter in the long story of the British Museum with confidence, and back on the front foot.” 

The journey by the 80-meter-long Jennifer to Gaza will take about three days. Citing sources, the CNA said the Jennifer will also tow the barge that the first ship, Open Arms, had transported to Gaza. The Open Arms, which had transported 200 tons of food around 2 weeks ago, will accompany the Jennifer along with another support vessel to transport equipment.  The missions are organized by the World Central Kitchen (WCK) NGO.  

Stefanos Tsitsipas, together with Paula Bandosa, visited the facilities of Inter Miami and met David Beckham up close. But for the Greek tennis player, the important acquaintances and meetings with former and current football players who have worldwide fame, do not stop there. After being eliminated by Shapovalov at the Miami Open, he stayed in Florida for a few days of rest and essentially tourism. After David Beckham, Stefanos Tsitsipas met another football star. The newest meeting was with Neymar! The Brazilian is recovering in Miami from his serious injury and of course Tsitsipas did not miss the opportunity to have his picture taken with him.

While it was smooth passage for Sakkari it was rough going for Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina, the fourth seed having to dig deep to see off determined Danish qualifier Clara Tauson 3-6 7-5 6-4 in a near empty Hard Rock stadium. After splitting the opening two sets in a ragged back-and-forth contest, 2022 Wimbledon champion Rybakina finally seized control with a break to nose in front 3-2 in the third and would never let go of the lead. Sakkari, putting the 6-4 6-0 California drubbing at the hands of world number one Iga Swiatek in Sunday’s final in the rearview mirror, was all business after having failed at the first hurdle in her last two visits to Miami. Having collected her first WTA Tour title in Austin last month and following that up with a quarter-final run at Indian Wells, Yuan represented a potentially tricky first test for eighth seeded Greek. But the 28-year-old passed with flying colours, breaking her Chinese opponent five times in the 79-minute masterclass.  

The UK-owned Rubymar last month became the first vessel lost since the Houthis began targeting commercial ships in the Red Sea area in November. The bulk carrier with 21,000 metric tons of fertiliser contained in its cargo hold has been submerged in shallow waters between Yemen and Eritrea since late February. The Greek-owned True Confidence was abandoned earlier this month after being set ablaze in an attack that killed three crew members near Yemen’s port of Aden. Salvage operations, which can include refloating vessels, towing and repairs, are critical to protecting marine life and coastal environments from damage from leaking fuel and hazardous cargo. Damage to the Rubymar caused a 18-mile oil slick and scientists remain concerned that a fertilizer leak could trigger devastating algal blooms in the Red Sea that damage vulnerable coral reefs and harm fish. “We’re limited in what we can do in an area that is not safe and secure,” Arsenio Dominguez, secretary-general of the UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) said at a media briefing in London. The Houthi’s escalating drone and missile campaign against commercial shipping has choked trade through the vital Suez Canal shortcut between Asia and Europe and forced many ships to take the longer route around Africa. The Iran-aligned militants say their campaign against commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden is a show of solidarity with Palestinians against Israel’s offensive in Gaza. While the IMO is supporting efforts to assist the internationally recognized government of Yemen with salvage efforts in the southern Red Sea, it is difficult to do the same for the True Confidence in the Gulf of Aden, Dominguez said. “It’s very difficult right now to access the area,” Dominguez said during a meeting of the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee. “Even for us to send consultants to support the Yemeni government for the salvage operations is not possible.” In the case of the Rubymar, the ship’s fertilizer cargo is “still contained,” Dominguez said. The ship poses safety risks for other vessels navigating the area, he added. For now, the 18-mile (29 km) oil slick remains the main environmental impact from Rubymar’s sinking, said Dominguez. A salvage contract for the True Confidence has been signed, a spokesperson for the ship’s companies told Reuters earlier this month, but declined further details, citing security issues. India’s navy evacuated all 20 crew from the stricken vessel. The IMO will work with the United Nations Environment Programme and the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs to see how else it can support Yemen, Dominguez said. A UN salvage team in 2023 avoided what could have been a devastating oil spill off the coast of Yemen by pumping more than 1 million barrels of light crude off the Safer, a decaying super tanker, to another vessel. The Safer had been used to store oil from Yemen’s oil fields in Marib. It became stranded in the Red Sea in 2015, after the crew abandoned ship due to Yemen’s civil war between the Houthis and a pro-government coalition. Moreover, Yemen’s Houthis have targeted a fuel tanker, MADO, in the Red Sea with naval missiles and Israel’s Eilat port and resort region with winged missiles, the group’s military spokesman Yahya Sarea said on Tuesday. MADO is a Marshall-Islands flagged liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tanker heading to Singapore from Saudi Arabia, maritime shipping trackers showed. The Houthis described it as American, but Equasis’s shipping database indicates that it is owned by Naftomar Shipping & Trading Co Ltd of Greece. Naftomar did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Iran-aligned Houthi militants have repeatedly launched drones and missiles at international commercial shipping in the Red Sea region since mid-November, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians against Israel’s military assault in Gaza. The attacks have disrupted global shipping, forcing firms to take longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa. The United States and Britain, along with other navies, have carried out strikes against Houthi targets in response.   (Photo: A handout photo made available by the Yemeni Al-Joumhouriya TV shows the last part of the British-registered cargo vessel, Rubymar, sinking in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen, on 3 March 2024 (issued 07 March 2024). [EPA/Yemeni Al-Joumhouriya])